Palmer and Partners.

Are you looking to buy or rent property in the Colchester Area but not quite sure where?

We understand it can be challenging to find the area you want to settle in. To help you find your perfect property in the Colchester area, we have put together a helpful guide which will be available each week exploring different areas within Colchester. Colchester offers a large and varied array of sought-after areas to live. One of these being the picturesque village of Langham.

Langham is a small rural Essex village situated just North-East of Colchester and lying partly within the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is perfect for those looking to buy or rent property near Colchester

The village includes a huge variety of local schools, shops and amenities. There are two schools; Langham Primary School & Langham Oaks School as well as Langham pre-school. Langham primary school had a very successful inspection in 2018 being recognised the 'positive culture' of their school where 'every child at the school matters'. 'Excellent teaching in all classes' means that 'lessons are often inspiring and engaging'. Not forgetting to mention that 100% of the pupils reached or exceeded the expected standard in writing, meaning for achievement in writing the school is in the top 1% of primary schools in England.

The local St Marys church is approached via a private road along an avenue of lime trees through the Langham Hall Estate in the northern part of Langham. It has a remarkably beautiful setting in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty overlooking the Vale itself. It is featured in a number of John Constable’s best-known paintings, most notably the several versions of “The Glebe Farm and Langham Church.

Langham's Recreation Grounds adjoin the Community Centre on School Road. The facilities include dog-walking area, Football Pitch, 2 Tennis Courts, Children's Playground Area, Adult Exercise Machines, "The Pod" & W. I. Memorial Garden Area.

Langham benefits from having a local bar and restaurant with facilities to accommodate. The Shepherd is a quality free-house & kitchen in the North Essex countryside. Ideally situated just a stones throw from Constable country and Britain’s oldest recorded town of Colchester, easily accessible just off the A12. The accommodation Serves modern British pub food made in house, fantastic real ales & quality wines, in a relaxing family friendly environment. The Shepherd is the perfect spot to while away the hours with a drink or two, sample the bar snacks, or indulge yourself from the full menu. The Shepard offers 3 En-suite rooms with king size beds whilst encompassing the warm and inviting feeling found throughout the rest of the building. Ideally placed amongst popular tourist attractions, the Essex countryside and just off the A12 they are popular for pleasure and business alike.

The community provides a service to anyone living in the areas of Langham or Boxted for elderly, sick or with limited mobility, providing transport to take you to surgery or hospital appointments, get your prescriptions from the pharmacy, take you to the hairdresser etc. If you are housebound and would like some company or need help with small household tasks, they also make home visits. There are also two local GP surgeries including Ardleigh Surgery & Mill Road Surgery.

Palmer & Partners are really proud to sponsor the Langham Fun Run. Palmer and Partners for a number of years now, have been the main sponsor of the Langham 10k which is an important date on a runners calendar as it is one of the fastest 10k courses in Essex. We normally have around 1000 runners, so it's a big day locally with all proceeds going to friends of Langham primary school giving a much needed boost to the school funds.

The location provides excellent and easy access to the A12, Colchester’s Historic Town Centre & Colchester’s North Station with its mainline links into London Liverpool Street.

Langham is a picturesque family friendly village, highly sought after for those wanting rural living with only a short distance to travel to the bigger town of Colchester, with London easily accessible. So if you’re looking to buy or rent property near Colchester, Langham has everything you could need.

Eight Ash Green is still a relatively small rural Essex village lying near the border of the English counties of Essex and Suffolk. It is situated just outside and to the North-west of Colchester – Britain’s Oldest Recorded town. Eight Ash Green has a population of around 1.200 consisting of about 860 households. Palmer and Partners Colchester often have stunning properties in this area and is somewhere we would recommend living, particularly if you want an area that feels rural but is a stone’s throw from a lively and bustling town.

The village itself dates back to medieval times and has a well-documented history although it wasn’t until 1949 that all the land south of the Colne, comprising parts of Stanway, West Bergholt, Copford and Aldham, was transferred to and became the new civil parish of Eight Ash Green.
The village is part of the Colchester Borough Council seat of West Bergholt & Eight Ash Green, and has its own Parish Council.

Holy Trinity Primary School serves Eight Ash Green, Aldham and the surrounding area. The primary school states that they are extremely proud of their school and value every individual child. As a school they have the highest aims for all their pupils and believe that they learn what they live. They school has well behaved, polite and respectful pupils, hardworking but a happy atmosphere, excellent standards of achievement, an inspirational, exciting curriculum and a wide range of extra-curricular activities.

The location offers brilliant A12 access as well as being near to Marks Tey Train Station with direct links into London Liverpool street. The village has a population of around 1,200 consisting of about 860 households.

As estate agents, Palmer and Partners know that location is everything when it comes to buying a house. It's likely to be your biggest commitment and expense, particularly if you have a family. You will strive to live near the best schools so your children have the opportunity to shine. Ipswich Town is somewhere that can offer your children a fantastic education, and of course, we have fantastic homes on the market.

Ipswich town has changed immensely over the last few decades, becoming trendier, cleaner and sought after. The town is a hub of excitement and the housing market is no different. Ipswich has direct train links to London Liverpool Street, as well as Norwich City, making it easier than ever for people to commute, but to live in a more affordable area. Palmer and Partners Ipswich is proud to have been the top selling estate agents of 2019 and we have started 2020 with a bang. We currently have a variety of houses for sale in Ipswich and the surrounding areas, as well as properties to let. To view our current listings, follow this link.

Finding the perfect home is hard, especially if you have children, so, we thought it would be a good idea to put together a guide with the best primary and secondary schools in the area. Although we recognise that ratings don’t always reveal what happens in a school, most of them are pretty accurate, and if you’re new to the area, you need to see somewhere that fits in with your family. We used information from The Schools Insights website as it takes a number of different reports into account, including the latest Ofsted report.

The top primary schools are:

1. St Mark’s Primary School 
2. St Margaret’s Primary School 
3. St John’s Primary School 

The top secondary schools are:

1. Copleston High School
2. Northgate High School 
3. Ipswich Academy 

To speak to our expert agents, just call Palmer and Partners Ipswich on 01473 211705 today. 

Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell about 60 miles north east of London with a population of more than 135,000. It is one of the great ancient towns of England and is surrounded by the beautiful Suffolk countryside. Ipswich also offers a cutting-edge arts and culture scene and is home to world-class food and drink with an excellent selection of shopping, sport clubs and centres. The town is also home to League One side Ipswich Town football club.

One major feature of the town is Christchurch Park which is a 70-acre area of rolling lawns, woodland, and delicately created arboreta in the centre of Ipswich. Annual events are held in the park such as the Ipswich Music Festival, open-air cinemas, Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday.

Regeneration of Ipswich’s cosmopolitan Waterfront is still ongoing, it has arguably given Ipswich a new lease of life and a modern twist to the historic maritime buildings. The University Campus Suffolk brought on rapid development along the waterfront area with new bars, restaurants and apartments lining the east bank of the river.

The town is well served by various transport routes including the A12 which provides access into London & the A14,  Ipswich also offers a direct rail link to London Liverpool St which takes between 1hr and 1hr 15.
London Stansted Airport (STN) is approximately 50 miles away.

The town boasts a good selection of primary, secondary and private schooling along with the Suffolk One college and sixth form. The new University of Suffolk is based on the town’s waterfront. Read our guide on the best schools in Ipswich to discover more.

The Ipswich docks area ("the waterfront") is now devoted primarily to leisure use and includes extensive recent development of residential apartment blocks and a university campus. Businesses operated from the dock include luxury boats and a timber merchant.

Palmer and Partners is the top estate and lettings agents in Ipswich. If you're thinking about selling your house or moving to the area, call us on 01473 211705 to see what we can do to help you. 

As The Palmer & Partners 500 Club is now in full swing, during November we were in the position to make our first subscription based donation of £500. Hayley Trustrum, one of our club members, nominated The Monkwick Munch Club in Colchester after she had met Maureen, who runs the club, by chance last summer on a sunny afternoon in a pub beer garden and after Maureen had explained how she spends her time, Hayley was stuck by what an amazing person Maureen was and what a worth while cause The Munch Club is.  The Munch Club aims to provide children and their families who qualify for free school meals to a hot meal during the school holidays. Having spoken to Maureen, the need for this provision is ever increasing and she has now opened a further two Munch Clubs across Colchester with a fourth soon to be opening.
Just before Christmas a few members of The 500 Club Committee and I went along to the Monkwick Scout Hall where the Munch Club is held and spent a humbling few hours helping Maureen and her team.  It was an experience I know none of us will forget. Firstly, Maureen provided a meal for 15-20 families and as it was Christmas, after the plates had been cleared away each child received a wrapped present which caused great excitement. Following this crates of tinned and packeted food were produced along with fresh meat and fresh vegetables.  Each family was given enough food for the next four days.  Maureen had all this running like clockwork and the following few days would be identical for Maureen with different families in different Munch Clubs. The children and their parents clearly love Maureen and respect everything she does for them.  She truly is an inspiring woman and someone that I can say it's been a privilege to meet.

To become a Palmer & Partners 500 Club Member and to help other causes like The Munch Club contact administration@palmerpartners500club.org

Sudbury is a small town in Suffolk, just beyond the Essex border. It is a small market town and is surrounded by beautiful, English countryside. It is becoming an increasingly popular area for people who want to move there as it combines the rural and urban, with bigger towns close by, as well as access to A roads and rail lines. It is also the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough, who provided John Constable inspiration. Constable was born near Flatford in East Bergholt and became famous for his landscape paintings.

Sudbury is set in the Stour Valley and dates back to the Anglo-Saxon times. Similar to Ipswich, it has a history of being heavily involved in wool weaving. Nearby towns such as Lavenham, were booming during the Anglo-Saxen period because of the wool trade. Lavenham is still a very popular village today, with many people visiting every year to see the historic buildings, history of the wool industry, and to enjoy the delicious tea-rooms. Sudbury is surrounded by quintessential villages and towns which are a huge selling point for those wanting to move into the area. The river Stour upon which Sudbury lies, was once used as a main transport route into London meaning the town had a lot of wealth during the Anglo-Saxon period.

As mentioned Thomas Gainsborough was a famous artist of the 18th century. Interestingly, he was the son of a wool manufacturer - something he chose not go into and to follow his passion for art. Gainsborough, unlike Constable, was a portrait artist, before using his birthplace for his muse years later. He was extremely popular and held in high-regard meaning he had many clients because of his use of rich colours and careful brush strokes. Although he had produced many portraits, his true love was painting the landscape that surrounded him. He was also a founding member of the Royal Academy. If you’ve visited Sudbury and the Stour Valley before, you will understand why the landscape was his preferred subject! It is stunning in its simplicity. 

Although Sudbury is a small town, it has a wonderful mix of the new and the old. As well as contemporary restaurants and pubs, there is still evidence of the traditional market town that was a thriving economy in the 8th century.

Palmer and Partners is a local estate agents based in the centre of Sudbury and is also a letting agent. Our small team of experts know the area well and are held in high regard. If you’re thinking of moving to the area or selling your house, call our agents on 01787 242540 to discover what we currently have available.

Set in the heart of the Stour Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty, the market town of Sudbury is an ideal centre for both business and pleasure trips to East Anglia. Sudbury is an ancient market town dating back to Saxon times. There are many cultural and sporting facilities, fine inns and hotels, making Sudbury an excellent place to live.

Sudbury has been used for television locations, most significantly for BBC's Lovejoy. It is surrounded by the attractive countryside so often painted by Constable and Gainsborough and by quintessentially English villages. It is an ideal base for people who enjoy walking or hiking.

The main shopping area centres on Market Hill and the streets radiating from it, particularly North Street. Market Hill itself is a fine public space, although perhaps its architecture is best appreciated on a Sunday morning when it is quieter and there are fewer cars about.

On Thursdays and Saturdays Market Hill is crowded with stalls for the long established markets which attract shoppers from the town and the surrounding villages and communities. A short walk down Gainsborough Street is Gainsborough's House, the painter's birthplace, now an excellent museum and gallery. From Friars Street, with its elegant Georgian facades, you may turn down Quay Lane to reach another of Sudbury's special features, the area around The Quay.

In terms of education, the main secondary school in the area is Ormiston Sudbury Academy. If you need primary schools then Tudor Church of England, Woodhall Primary or St Gregory’s are all centrally located and have good reputations. To discover more, read our blog on schools in Sudbury.

Part of the explanation for Sudbury’s historic wealth relates to its location – near to the coast for shipping wool exports via the River Stour, and near to London & Colchester for domestic transport. Sudbury is only fifteen miles from Colchester and has good road and rail links with the rest of the UK, especially London. In terms of rail there is a frequent service to Colchester where you can get to London directly in just over an hour.

London Stansted Airport (STN) is approximately 32 miles away.

Palmer and Partners is an estate and lettings agent in Colchester, with branches in Sudbury, Clacton and Ipswich. If you're interested in moving to the Sudbury area, call our office on 01787 242540.